Ghaznavid, Saljuqs, and other Turkic dynasties
After Booye, their territory broke to pieces and divided between local
rulers. Around 1040 AD, a local ruler in Ghazna(now in
Afghanistan) named Mahmoud, claimed all of the Booye territories. Mahmoud
was from a Turkic origin, and his parents where
soldiers and commanders in Booye army. Mahmoud called himself Sultan,
and started conquering Iranian and northern Indian
lands. By 1060 AD, he was ruling a country almost as large as Sasanid
empire. After him, his successors lost most of the
country to another Turkic tribe called “Saljuqs”.
The leader of Saljuqs, called Toghrol, chose Isphahan as his capital.
His successors, Aleb Arsalan and Malek Shah, were
among the most powerful of Islamic rulers. Malek Shah invaded Syria
and Anatolia(present day Turkey), and his country was
the biggest country in the Islamic world. After his death (1092), the
country divided to three parts: Iran went to his sons,
Turkey went to his cousin, and Malek Shah’s brother, Tatesh, established
his rule in Syria.
The last Saljuqid king of Iran, Toghrol III, was deposed by Eel Arsalan,
king of Kharazm. He was the first king of
“Kharazmshahian” dynasty, the dynasty that ruled most of Iran until
the Mongol attack.
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Esmaeelian , Kharazmshahan, and Mongol Attack
One of the branches of Islam is called Esmaeeli. From the beginning
of Sultan Mahmoud’s reign, they were living in
concealment because the Turkic rulers were very prejudice sunnies who
believed that Esmaeelis are heretics. During the reign
of Malek Shah, one of the Esmaeeli leaders called “Hassan-e Sabbah”,
started a revolt (around 1080 AD), and because he
wanted to protect his followers, he took refuge in a grand and out
of reach fort in northern Iran. This fort was called “Alamoot”.
Hassan orders his followers to capture the forts throughout the country,
and when they did, he organized a system called
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